Introduction

Started in March, launches of NVIDIA's GeForce Kepler line of GPUs on a near-monthly basis are now drawing to a close with the new GeForce GTX 650 Ti. A successor to the GTX 550 Ti, the new GPU helps NVIDIA seal a gaping price-point hole between the $119 GTX 650 and the $229 GTX 660. Positioned at roughly $150, the new chip is designed to yield a price-performance edge over two AMD Radeon models, the HD 7770 GHz Edition and HD 7850 1 GB.

Unlike the GK107-based GeForce GTX 650, the GTX 650 Ti is based on the GK106, the same silicon the GTX 660 is based on. The GK106 is configured with two graphics processing clusters (GPCs) and four streaming multiprocessors (SMXs) for a total CUDA core count of 768, with 64 texture memory units (TMUs), 16 raster operations processors (ROPs), and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface holding 1 GB of memory. The GTX 650 Ti retains the display IO configuration of its older siblings. This configuration supports up to four displays.

In this review, we're taking a close look at the ASUS GeForce GTX 650 Ti DirectCU II TOP: a premium factory-overclocked model that combines ASUS's workhorse performance-segment cooler, the 2-slot DirectCU II, with a custom-design PCB. The PCB features Digi+ VRM with a degree of voltage control via the included GPU Tweak software.